Charlize Theron recently told the New York Times that she thought it was “very reckless” for Timothée Chalamet to claim that “no one cares” about opera or ballet.
When asked about the mental challenges of her previous roles, the action star said, “Dancing is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Dancers are superheroes. They push themselves through it in complete silence.”
Interviewer Lulu Garcia-Navarro alluded to Chalamet’s now-infamous “ballet or opera” remark, to which Theron responded, “Oh, I wish I could meet him someday. That’s one art form, two art forms, that we always bring up. That was a very reckless comment, because yes, they do have difficulties. But in 10 years, AI will be able to do Timothy’s job, but it won’t replace people dancing live on stage. ”
“And you shouldn’t (expletive) other art forms. Dance taught me discipline. It taught me structure. It taught me effort. It taught me to be tough. It’s borderline abuse. From blisters that won’t heal to blood infections. And I’m talking about bleeding through my shoes, literally. It’s just a mindset of not giving up. Just keep going. ”
Speaking at a CNN and Variety town hall event, Chalamet said he doesn’t want theatrical films to end up like “ballet or opera,” where artists want to “keep this going” even though “no one cares about it anymore.”
“I respect people who go on talk shows and say, ‘We’ve got to keep movie theaters alive. You know, we’ve got to keep this genre alive,’ and I’ve done that myself,” Chalamet said. “And another part of me feels like, like ‘Barbie’ or ‘Oppenheimer,’ if people wanted to see it, they’d go out of their way to see it and be loud and proud. And I don’t want to do ballet or opera or something like, ‘Hey, keep this alive,’ even though it’s like, no one cares about it anymore. Hats off to the ballet and opera people. It’s just 14 cents less in ratings.”
A representative for Chalamet did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.
